Haiku Friday #20: It's Broken

Remember when I
Was berating myself for
Being a bad mom?

Well, it turns out it's
Even worse than all of that.
Wedn'sday the second,

My husband took our
Son to the orthopedic
Doc to check his arm.

At first it was to
Check for any hip problems
Since he's not walking.

But while he was there,
The specialist would check his
Hurt right arm as well.

At the orthopedic center, they took yet another x-ray of his arm and found a healing fracture up near his elbow. So they put a cast on it right then and there. They let him pick out the color he wanted -- he chose kelly green. Apparently he wasn't into the teddy bears or dinosaurs (now, if they'd had a cat pattern...).

Horrible mother that I am, I stayed at work during the whole process -- with all of Adam's illness lately, I'm running out of sick time (the next day, we found out he had roseola as well -- this in addition to already having an ear infection and several molars making their entrance).

So he's still in the sling. He's still trying to crawl on that arm, although with more success and fewer tears and frustration now. And we still don't know what happened, although we now know what's wrong, at least.

The good news? There's nothing wrong with his hips, so as long as he's willing, walking shouldn't be a problem. The nice lady from Help Me Grow came today; she determined that Adam has a gross motor delay, but otherwise he's developing on or ahead of schedule -- especially ahead in the language. No surprises.

Any suggestions for encouraging a child to walk, who is usually content to just sit on the floor with whatever has caught his interest?

Haiku Friday #18: And The Worst Mother Of The Year Award Goes To...

*Haiku-ers: I know this is two days late. Blogger was screwed up Thursday night, and I didn't get a chance to publish until today. So sue me.

Oh, yeah, you're right. I haven't posted in weeks. Oops. Sorry folks.

Back to your regularly scheduled blog...


Sev'ral weeks ago,
I took my husband to the
Emergency room.

Silly me! I thought
We wouldn't have to go back
Again -- not this year.

This time, it was the
Children's Hospital ER.
My son's arm was hurt.

On Monday afternoon, my dad mentioned that Adam was favoring his right arm a little, but when I got him home, he didn't seem to be acting unusually. He did sleep horribly Monday night, and had a terrible morning on Tuesday -- he wouldn't eat, or laugh or smile. All he did was cry. And all I could think was, "I wish he would cooperate so I'm not late to work."

When we got to the daycare, I told his teachers about his lack of appetite and his sleep habits. He's been on antibiotics for a double ear infection and teething tablets for these 3 evil molars he's got coming in, so I mentioned that as well.

About an hour later, they came to me (I work in the classroom next door to his) and told me his arm was swollen and he refused to move it. So we made a trip to the ER. The whole time, I was just wondering how this could have happened. What kind of parent lets her child bust up his arm and doesn't even realize it?

He had a few x-rays taken (boy, does he HATE those -- he had to have one of his hips two weeks ago), and he was pissed. You could practically hear the obscenities he was trying to scream at the x-ray technicians. And I don't blame him one bit -- those x-ray rooms are pretty scary. Mostly darkened, large cameras looming overhead, a long table that looks more like a creepy kind of conveyor belt -- I'd be freaking out too.

While we waited for the results to come back from radiology, my husband arrived and just held our son for the longest moment. If I hadn't been so stressed out, I would have thought it was really sweet.

The x-rays didn't show a fracture, so they put his arm in a full splint and told us to monitor his pain for the rest of the week. We got to leave around noon, my poor kid in a sling, and we went to Penn Station for lunch, where we spoiled him with undiluted apple juice, bread, cheese, and part of a cookie.

By the time I started writing this a few days ago, Adam was moving all over the place, trying to point, reach, and crawl with his bum arm. I thought that was a good sign, and the doctor had told us that should his condition improve, we could remove the splint.

So I took it off, moved his arm in every direction, and gave him a bath. But as I was putting some lotion on his arm, he screamed out in pain. Back to the emergency room we went.

The nurse who saw us told me that another x-ray wouldn't do any good until 10 to 14 days after the injury, so he will see his regular doctor on Thursday. They put another splint on, and at least he's much happier and more mobile than he was last week.

I hate myself for not even knowing what happened. Did he fall? Did he bump into something? Did he do something in his sleep?

I guess we'll know more on Thursday.


For more haiku or to play along, check out A Mommy Story.

I'm in the money!

...or at least I will be in about two weeks.

Since we moved back to Ohio from Boston back in February, my husband has been substitute teaching and looking for work that will actually support our family of three (subs are paid per day of work, whereas full-time teachers have a yearly salary divided up over the twelve months; subs do not get paid over the summer, and during the year, they only receive a total of about half of a regular teacher's salary anyway). The original plan was that he would find a job as a full-time teacher, and I would be a stay-at-home-mom until the summer, when Adam would be 6 months old, and then I would go back to work while he stayed home with the baby.

We have both been searching for the last seven months and thus far, have been unable to find work. About a month ago or so, my husband decided that since he wasn't getting anywhere (and I do mean anywhere -- he looked for jobs in high schools, colleges, libraries, the Department of Defense, and put his resume up on Monster) in the job search, that he would go back to school. In the meantime, I kept looking for work as a secretary, and then as a daycare worker/preschool teacher (in the hopes that Adam could be cared for in my place of employment, at a discounted price).

Two weeks ago we got a break. My sister Sara works at the Jewish Community Center, and has for the past three years. She was assigned there for her freshman observation (she's in school for early childhood education), and they liked her so much, they hired her Monday through Friday after classes and also for their summer camp. Then we found out that Aaron's aunt is the director of the center. I was a little nervous about putting myself out there for the open position, because I have "some college coursework completed," none of which is in education. The one thing I have going for me is 10+ years of babysitting experience, and informal child care/supervision of youth activities at both my church and in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism, more about that later).

I've been trying to get paperwork done for this job, and silently freaking out about getting a physical and a TB test done (we can't find a general family doctor, either -- but at least Adam has a wonderful pediatrician). I wanted so badly to post the good news about the possibility of a job, but I didn't want to jinx it. And then today I got a call from the director. The original position I applied for was one that someone else had left, and this person apparently came back to it in the past few weeks. But I can still work two eight-hour days and be a floating sub for the rest of the week! I hung up with the director, and danced around my kitchen/living room until my quads hurt.

Deep sigh of relief. Damn, did we need this. I won't be getting a huge salary or anything, and they don't have a place for Adam now, but as the child of an employee, he is at the top of the waiting list. And it's something. Especially when we're fighting with the loan company to disburse the money for Brandon's first semester so he can actually, you know, pay for books (he's been in class for nearly two weeks already). Happy little dance!

Edited to add: Sorry, folks. I know I promised this would be shorter, but I just couldn't contain my excitement!

Further edited to add: Upon reflection, I think the reason my posts are so long is because I feel the need to explain EVERYTHING, since you all know practically nothing about me (personal friends excluded). Hopefully this will get better with time.